Birth. (No date or place found). He is also listed as Azzo I and as Actius.

Education. (No information found).

Cardinalate. Bishop cardinalis of Ostia of in 996. Consecrated (no information found). Librarian of the Holy Roman Church. Subscribed a papal bull issued on May 27, 996 in favor of the monastery of S. Salvatore in monte Amiato, Chiusi, territory of Siena, at the request of its abbot Winizone.

Cardinalate. Bishop cardinalis of Albano in 996. Consecrated (no information found). Subscribed a papal bull issued on May 27, 996 in favor of the monastery of S. Salvatore in monte Amiato, Chiusi, territory of Siena, at the request of its abbot Winizone. Librarian of the Holy Roman Church in 997.

Cardinalate. Bishop cardinalis of Palestrina on May 27, 996 (1). Consecrated (no information found). Subscribed a papal bull issued on May 27, 996 in favor of the monastery of S. Salvatore in monte Amiato, Chiusi, territory of Siena, at the request of its abbot Winizone. Apostolic librarian in 1101.

Cardinalate. Presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title in 996 (?). He was sent to France by Antipope John XVI, at the instance of Foulques Nerra, count d'Anjou, to solemnly consecrate a church founded by the count in the diocese of Tours; Archbishop Ugone had refused to effect the consecration.

Birth. (No date found), Rossano, Calabria. Of Greek parents. He is also listed as Joannes IV and Johannes Philagathus.; and his last name as Filogato, Filigatus, Philagathos and Graecus.

Education. Entered the Order of Saint Benedict (Benedictines).

Priesthood. Ordained (no further information found). Named chancellor for Italy by Emperor Otto II in 980. Named abbot of the monastery of Nonantola, near Modena, in 982, by the same emperor. Empress Theophano, widow of Emperor Otto II, named him in 987 tutor to her seven-year-old son, King Otto III, future emperor, whose godfather he was.

Episcopate. The following year, 988, the empress nominated him archbishop of Piacenza; he had been coadjutor since 982. In 991, he again became chancellor for Italy. In 994 was sent as special envoy to Constantinople to find a Byzantine princess as bride for Otto III. He returned to Italy, accompanied by a Byzantine ambassador, Bishop Leo of Synada, in early November 996. Shortly after, the Romans revolted against Pope Gregory V (who was not popular for being a German) and expelled him from the city; Crescenzio II Nomentano was then dictator of Rome. Archbishop Filagato spent some weeks in north Italy, in touch with Emperor Otto III, who was in Aachen; and with Crescenzio in Rome.

Cardinalate. Presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title or deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church in 996. In early February 997, the pope who was still in exile, celebrated a synod in Pavia in Pentecost, 997; rumors circulated that a new papal election was going to take place; shortly after, Archbishop Filagato appeared in Rome as a pilgrim and allowed to be elected the papacy with the support of Crescenzio.

Antipapacy. Elected antipope in February or March 997. Took the name John XVI. In March 997, by orders of the emperor and the pope, he was replaced as abbot of Nonantola and archbishop of Piacenza; soon after, he was formally excommunicated. In the summer of that same year, he received a highly critical letter from Abbot Nilo of Rossano, future saint. Pope Gregory V asked Emperor Otto III for help; in December 997, the emperor went with his army into Italy; learning the news, Antipope John XVI escaped to Campagna and wanted to abdicate before being officially deposed. In February 998, Pope Gregory V, escorted by the emperor and his troops, entered Rome without resistance. Imperial troops, commanded by Count Berthold, discovered the antipope in a fortress, captured him; he was handed to the emperor; and, with the permission of the pope and the monarch, according to the custom of the time, he was deprived of his sight, and his hands, tongue, lips, nose and ears were mutilated; he was then taken to Rome. In a Lateran Synod, celebrated in Lent of 998, Pope Gregory V formally deposed the antipope, who, at the request of Abbot Nilo, was moved from prison to a monastery. When, in spite of all this, Antipope Giovanni appeared before the pope in episcopal insignias, these were torn from him, and he was led through the streets of Rome on an ass, facing backwards, amid the popular derision. Without much difficulty, the imperial troops also captured Crescenzio, who was resisting at Castello Sant'Angelo, and on April 29, 998, he was beheaded. The former antipope was sent to a monastery in Rome where he quietly lived the rest of his life. In 1001, an embassy from Piacenza, sent by Bishop Sigefredo, visited him in Rome to ask for the relics of martyr S. Giustina, which the antipope had obtained during his pontificate; he acknowledged having received the relics to donate them to Piacenza and returned them to the legates; they took the relics to Piacenza, where they arrived on August 17, 1001. He did not create any pseudocardinals.

(1) This is according to Kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, pp. 135 and 136; Reardon, The deaths of the popes : comprehensive accounts, including funerals, burial places and epitaphs, p. 76. "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926, p. 160, no. 7; Del Re, "Giovanni XVI, antipapa", Mondo vaticano. Passato e presente, p. 540, say that he died in 1013. His first biography in English, linked above, says that he died on April 2, 1013. Huschner, "Giovanni XVI, antipapa", Enciclopedia dei papi, II, 115, says that a notice inserted in the catalog of the abbots of Nonantola, indicates that the antipope died on an August 26. Huschner adds that the "Graecus Iohannes" inscribed in the necrology of Fulda under the date April 2, 1013 is uncertain that he could be identified with John XVI. Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia : ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII, I, 496, indicates that the Necrology of Fulda, 1013, says: IV. non. Apr. Grecus Iohannes viam univesae carnis ingessus est, adding that the citation does not say it refers to Antipope John XVI (2) This is according to "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926, p. 160, no. 7. Reardon, The deaths of the popes : comprehensive accounts, including funerals, burial places and epitaphs, p. 77, says that he was buried in an unknown location.

Birth. (No date found), district of Biberatica, between the column of Traiano and the basilica of Ss. XII Apostoli, Rome (or from Ripagnano, Fermo). Of the illustrious family dei Secchi(1). He may have been related to the Crescenzi family. Son of Giovanni. He is also listed as Sicco; and as Giovanni, called Sicco.

Education. (No information found).

Early life. He had been married and had three sons, all of whom entered the ecclesiastical state.

Cardinalate. Presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title ca. 996.

Papacy. Elected pope on May 16, 1003 (2), due to the favor of Giovanni II Crescenzio, patricius Romanorum. Took the name John XVII. He gave permission to Polish missionary Benedikt and his companions to evangelize among the Slavs. Created one cardinal in one promotion.

Death. November 6, 1003, Rome. Buried in the portico Lateran basilica; or in the basilica of S. Paolo fuori le mura; or in the monastery of S. Saba in Cella Nova in the Aventino, all in Rome. If it was at the Lateran basilica, his tomb was destroyed in the fire of 1308 or in the 1361 one; the burned remains would have been buried in a polyandrum near the lesser door of the basilica (3)

(1) In the church of S. Agata, Rome, there is a long dedicatory epigraph, prepared in 1040, by three brothers, Giovanni, bishop of Palestrina; Pietro, deacon; and Andrea secundicerius of the Lateran palace. The epigraph produdly emphasizes their family relationship with Pope Giovanni XVII, definig themselves avi cretos Siconis sanguine papae".(2) This is according to elly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, 138; and Sennis, Enciclopedia dei papi, p. 125. Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia : ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII, I, 501, says that he was pope for five months and twenty five days, from June 13 to December 7, 1002. Del Re, Mondo vaticano. Passato e presente, says that he was elected in June 1003. His second biography in English, linked above, says that he was pope from June to December 1003.(3) An inscription, taken from Reardon, The deaths of the popes : comprehensive accounts, including funerals, burial places and epitaphs, p. 79, has survived:

The inscription is also transcribed by Montini, Le tombe dei papi, p. 170, no. 141, which he took from Giovanni Diacono, "Gregorio", 45*, no. 50. Giovanni affirms that he saw the tomb of this pope in the portico of the Lateran basilica, inter duas fores ecclesiae; and says, so that there is no doubt, Iste Iohannes XVII papa.

Birth. (No date found) (1), in Hornburg, Niedersachsen, Germany. Of the high Saxon nobility. Son of Count Konrad von Morsleben und Hornburg and his wife Amulrad. He is also listed as Sindagero; as Suidger of Bamberg; as Ruggero de Mayendarf, dei Signori di Morsleweed Homburg; and as Ruggiero di Mayendorf.

Education. (No information found).

Early life. Canon of the cathedral chapter of Halberstadt.

Cardinalate. Presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title in 996 (?) (2). Chaplain to the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, 1032. Court chaplain, 1035. King Heinrich III nominated him bishop of Bamberg on December 28, 1040, while he was still a deacon.

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Bamberg in 1041; retained the see until his death. Consecrated on December 28, 1040, by Archbishop Bardo of Mainz. In 1046, he accompanied King Heinrich III of Germany on an expedition to Italy They found three rival popes (Benedict IX, Sylvester III and Gregory VI), supported by different Roman families, claiming the throne of Saint Peter .The king convoked the Synod of Sutri in December 1046 and had the three popes deposed; the king's first choice to replace them was Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg, but he declined; then the monarch selected Bishop Suidger as pope on December 24, 1046.

Papacy. Elected pope and enthroned on December 25, 1046. Took the name Clement II. On that same day, the new pope crowned King Henry III and his wife Agnes as emperor and empress. The new emperor invested himself with the rank of patricius Romanus, which allowed him to take the lead in the nomination of a new pope and the Romans had to accept again not to elect a pontiff in the future without imperial approval. Together with the emperor, he celebrated the Council of Rome on January 5, 1047, in which the canonical rules against any kind of simony were renewed; the assembly also decreed a period of penance of forty days for any ecclesiastical who knowingly had received ordination from a simoniacal bishop. After the synod, the pope accompanied the emperor to southern Italy. At the end of February 1047, the pope returned to Rome. In late summer, he went to the Marches and on October 1, he was at the abbey of S. Tommaso in Aposella, near Pesaro. While in that abbey, he fell seriously ill and died. A rumor circulated that he had been poisoned by the followers of Pope Benedict IX but it is probably groundless. He did not create any cardinals.

Death. October 9, 1047, monastery of S. Tommaso in Aposella, near Pesaro, probably of lead poisoning. His body was taken to Bamberg and buried in the choir of Sankt Peter in the cathedral of that city. The cover of the sarcophagus was lost when the tomb was desecrated by the Lutherans in the sixteenth century. The sarcophagus was opened on October 22, 1731 and it was discovered that Pope Clement II had been a very tall blond man. In 1743, a simple stone with an epitaph was placed on the tomb (3).

(1) Some sources say that he was born ca. 1005, which is in contradiction with the chronology given by sources consulted to compose this biographical entry.(2) This is according to Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, I, pt. 1, 88; Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificum Romanorum : et S.R.E. Cardinalium, I, col. 750, no. IV; Cristofori, Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa, p. 265; and "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. es cardinaux des 10 premiers siècles". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926, p. 151, no. 9. None of the other sources consulted mention his promotion to the cardinalate. It seems unusual that a cardinal would have been chaplain to an archbishop and later to the royal court. (3) This is the text of the epitaph, taken from Montini, Le tombe dei papi, p. 178:

In discrepancy with this text, all the sources consulted indicate that he died on October 9, 1047, near Pesaro.According to Reardon, The deaths of the popes : comprehensive accounts, including funerals, burial places and epitaphs, p. 83, on June 3, 1942, when the tomb was salvaged from the destruction of the Second World War, the tomb was opened again. The tests conducted on the pope's bones showed that they contained a high concentration of lead.

Cardinalate. Presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title ca. 996. Subscribed a papal bull issued on May 27, 996 in favor of the monastery of S. Salvatore in monte Amiato, Chiusi, territory of Siena, at the request of its abbot Winizone.